A rare bonus point away win for the Chiefs against the Highlanders. Super Rugby will be the only benchmark to judge New Zealand players before the Lions tour starts. So far - in a small sample - they've looked better than the Australian and South African sides.

Highlanders had a lot of possession early on but didn't make it count, and fell behind. Life got worse with injuries to Ben Smith (concussion) and Aaron Smith (hand). It was a game of home side mistakes, so not quite the festival or rugby which some had hoped for.

Reds beat the Sharks 28-26 at home but threatened to lose the game. Cooper was off-target with kicking, and might have put them in control much earlier if he'd got them. Reds have been talked up this season, with a lot of experience returning, but things looked a bit rusty.

The Highlanders led 27-6 at one point in the second half. The Crusaders got to 27-16 but the game really changed in the last ten minutes, when the Highlanders drew a yellow card and went down to 14 men. Two converted tries saw the Crusaders snatch an amazing comeback win.

Crusaders come back to win in style and the Fijian Tamanivalu scores to take the win (he is an AB ed.) (yer but his is really Fijian and ffs if rugby every sorts the rules out and if any of the supposed better nations; nz,oz,sa,eng or fr even dares to respect and bothers to tour Fiji then we might see the truth reveal itself in a few short years.

Australian teams still struggling. The Reds looked to have the beating of the Crusaders, which would have turned the tide. However, they contrived to leak 10 points right at the death, despite having a man advantage.

Sunwolves only lost by seven in South Africa, while the Jaguares won, so it wasn't a bad week for them.

In general, though, there's still a lot of uncertainly over the future of Super Rugby, with SANZAAR expected to make some announcements soon. The format seems far too complex for the average viewer, and it's having an impact on crowds and audiences.

Stormers switched to plan B & kept it tight in the 2nd half and blew the Sunwolves forwards away to win.

A good summary of the weekend from an Aussie perspectivehttp://www.theroar.com.au/2017/03/27/wrap-super-rugby-game-three-halves/

3 wins out of 3 for the NZ teams this weekend (Hurricanes and Chiefs had byes) - the NZ conference is looking like a 3 way fight between the Crusaders, Chiefs and Hurricanes, with the Highlanders being hampered by a horrendous injury list, and the Blues hampered (for the 12th year in a row) by the lack of a top grade #10 - both are still good enough to be in the top half of the competition overall though.

The Jaguares look good early on, especially as the draw means they avoid most of the NZ teams - they have to go to SA on tour now which will give a better gauge, but they look like a good outside bet for the playoffs. Granted this weekend they faced a Reds side incapable of converting possession into points.

Reliable rumour in Australia has it that the Rebels are safe from the chop (it'd cost the ARU too much to buy off their private backers), with the Force odds on to be cut for next season, ahead of the Brumbies. The lack of depth in Aus is pretty obvious, so the change can't come soon enough

We are well into the Super Rugby season and, I have to admit, I haven't seen too many matches to comment. The coverage this year seems so relentlessly negative. Everybody hates the format, and there are proposals on the table for change, but we don't know what they are yet.

Almost every week in Australia, there are articles questioning the ongoing existence of rugby union in the country, let alone the current format. NZ rugby seems in rude health on the pitch but the collapse of Australia as a viable opponent is cause for concern.

South Africa, meanwhile, continues to wrestle with politics which presents a moving target for everyone involved with the sport.

I sort of understand the bigger reason for axing an Aus team - there is an issue with diluting the player base too much in a country where Rugby is not a first pick sport.

2 SA franchises too! In such a Rugby'centric area! That is a big blow. What are the reasons for the SA franchises being axed? Is that poor performance too? We cant really argue that the player pool is an issue - granted the top SA players are mostly heading abroad (but that could be resolved at the union level).

propdavid_london wrote:I sort of understand the bigger reason for axing an Aus team - there is an issue with diluting the player base too much in a country where Rugby is not a first pick sport.

2 SA franchises too! In such a Rugby'centric area! That is a big blow. What are the reasons for the SA franchises being axed? Is that poor performance too? We cant really argue that the player pool is an issue - granted the top SA players are mostly heading abroad (but that could be resolved at the union level).

Fundamentally SA don't have the player base to support 6 teams - cutting 2 is a little harsh, but to even up the conferences it was either them or drop Argentina. The Kings are gash mind (it took a truly awful Waratahs side to lose to them last week - a result a akin to Zebre turning up and winning in Swansea). And the Cheetahs have made the playoffs (just) once in 12 years, and they've been 10th or lower 10 times.

The falling Rand also means that while SA is still the biggest TV revenue contributor it's getting harder to balance the books & retain players.

Australia currently don't have the money or the talent to support 5 teams, both the Brumbies and Force have needed bailing out in recent years. And Australians won't go watch a team that doesn't have a decent shout of winning - it's a crowded sporting market.

Arguably you'd cut the Sunwolves as they're rubbish & not supported by 2 of the 3 main pillars of Japanese rugby (the Top League clubs and the Universities), however they bring in a healthy slice of TV money. And moving them into the Australian conference makes a lot more logistic sense - cuts travel time and costs considerably)

Sending an NZ or Aus team to SA for 2 matches costs over £100k in flights and accommodation, ditto sending a SA team to Australasia, that's more than you'll take in (net) on the gates (a Twickenham or Millennium sell-out international crowd at £75 average price per head brings in over £5m, but you're talking a 15-20k average crowd for a Super Rugby match. And at a fair bit less per ticket)

Last edited by Pete C (Kiwireddevil) on Tue 25 Apr 2017, 11:44 am; edited 2 times in total (Reason for editing : Typos)

Today's scores so far:Chiefs 27-20 Sunwolves - no TBP for the Chiefs, and the Japanese lads get 1 point from their 3 match NZ tourReds 26-29 WaratahsForce 15-24 Lions (Lions TBP)Lions 21-48 Crusaders - Crusaders TBP, but lost Kieran Read for 6 weeks with a broken thumb, meaning he's tight for the 1st Lions' test

And just after half time in the clash of the dead-men-walkingKings 23-3 Rebels